The term “wireless” is an old-fashioned word for the appliance we commonly today call the “radio”. A radio was called a “wireless” because the signals received and broadcast by the radio were delivered without the use of wires. Today, the term “wireless” is still used in connection with communications devices. But today, the use of the term “wireless device” has expanded and may be used in connection with almost any device that receives data and/or voice communications without the use of wires such as through the use of a radio modem.
Wireless devices may include familiar personal communications devices such as mobile telephones, pagers, and personal digital assistants (PDAs). Wireless devices also may include less familiar data communications devices. These less familiar devices may be associated with terminal devices so as to bring communications features and functions to the terminal devices. The terminal devices may be fixed-site devices, so called because the devices are generally not mobile, but rather, fixed at a certain location. For example, a set-top box associated with a television may be considered a fixed-site device and may include a wireless device for receipt of data related to television programming or control.
Other examples of fixed-site devices that may have wireless devices include devices that make use of telemetry applications. These devices may include burglar/fire/emergency alarms, vending machines, utility or other meters, timers, clocking mechanisms, asset tracking systems, and other equipment. Additional examples of fixed-site devices that may have wireless devices include information systems or hubs and related elements that make use of the Bluetooth system. Information about the Bluetooth system may be obtained from the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) and the Bluetooth Web site: http://www.bluetooth.com. Further examples of fixed-site devices that may have wireless devices include Home RF devices and appliances. Advantageously, data may be sent over a wireless network to Home RF devices and appliances. The data may include warranty, diagnostic, service or other information. For brevity, a fixed-site device that is or may be associated with a wireless device is referred to herein as fixed-site wireless device.
Wireless devices, including fixed-site wireless devices, generally operate on a wireless network or system and are provided with services by one or more service providers. The network provider may also be, but does not have to be, a service provider.
An example of a well known wireless data communications network is the Mobitex network. The infrastructure of a basic Mobitex network typically includes a network control center (NCC), national switches, local switches, and base stations that communicate with wireless devices. The Mobitex network allows the wireless devices to communicate with other devices, elements, services, and platforms, and to communicate over other networks such as local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), other wireless networks, the public switched telecommunications network (PSTN), and the Internet. Additional information regarding the Mobitex network may be obtained from the Mobitex Interface Specification, Ericsson Mobile Data Design AB, Gothenburg, Sweden.
To facilitate communications, each wireless device may be assigned a unique network address (UNA) or other identifier. For example, a wireless device such as a mobile telephone may be assigned a mobile number as its UNA. To reach a person associated with the mobile telephone, a caller dials the mobile number. On the basis of the mobile number, the call is routed through the appropriate network(s) to the mobile telephone. In the Mobitex network, numbers may be assigned to wireless devices, and the numbers are referred to as Mobitex Access Numbers (MANs). The Mobitex network generally keeps track of the MANs and their respective wireless devices so that communications may be appropriately routed, subscribers may be properly billed, etc.
An advantage of the assignment of a UNA or other identifier to each wireless device in the network is that data or a communication may be directly and exclusively routed to that wireless device by using the UNA or other identifier as a type of address or locator. A disadvantage of the assignment is that the individual transmission of data to each of the wireless devices in the network may cause the network and radio channel to become over-utilized, thereby creating congestion and slow response in the system. Another disadvantage of the assignment is that the use of a large number of wireless devices may easily consume the limited number of UNAs or other identifiers set up for use by the wireless network or other entity. Consumption of all of the UNAs or other identifiers poses problems to the continuing operation and expansion of the wireless network.
As mentioned above, a wireless device may be a mobile device (such as a mobile telephone, pager, or PDA), or may be a fixed-site device (such as a set-top box, vending machine, emergency alarm, appliance or other). Besides their relative mobility or lack thereof, there is at least another typical difference between a “mobile” wireless device and a “fixed-site” wireless device. Generally, a fixed-site wireless device engages only infrequently in communications. For example, a set-top box may periodically receive data from a service provider such as a monthly update of television programming. Occasionally, the set-top box may initiate a communication with the service provider such as to pass on a request received from a user for a pay-per-view program. In contrast, the purpose of most mobile wireless devices is to facilitate regular, and sometimes continuous, communications.
The difference in the relative frequency of communications by fixed-site wireless devices versus mobile wireless devices has been noted and reviewed for purposes of improving and advancing wireless technology. In the review of the differences between the fixed-site vs. mobile wireless devices, the use and assignment of UNAs or other identifiers to wireless devices has come under scrutiny. As noted above, there are advantages and disadvantages to the assignment of UNAs or other identifiers to wireless devices.
Specifically, with respect to the Mobitex network, the problem of the assignment of UNAs or other identifiers has been noted and a different system has been proposed so that UNAs or other identifiers may be assigned to wireless devices in a controlled way, and so that, inter alia, UNAs and other identifiers may be reclaimed and recycled as necessary. This different system is referred to as the “wireless subscription management” (WSM) system (also referred to as the “wireless management” system.) As part of its review of assignment problems, the WSM system noted the infrequent communications of fixed-site wireless devices as compared to other wireless devices. This notice led, at least in part, to the invention of the WSM system regarding the assignment of MANs. The WSM system is based on the premise that the assignment of MANs to fixed-site wireless devices and associated record keeping activities constitute actions that are unnecessary. As a result of being unnecessary, the assignment and associated record keeping activities unnecessarily burden network infrastructure and resources by, inter alia, over-utilization of the network and radio channel, thereby creating congestion and slow responses in the network.
The WSM system has been developed to manage some aspects of MANs and wireless devices in the Mobitex and other networks. The WSM system and related systems and methods are described more fully in the following previously filed, and commonly owned patent applications, which are incorporated herein by reference:                Wireless Management System, U.S. Ser. No. 08/963,446, filed on Nov. 3, 1997.        Wireless Subscription Management with Dynamic Allocation of Unique Network Addresses, U.S. Ser. No. 09/722,316, filed on Nov. 28, 2000.        Market Research Using Wireless Subscription Management, U.S. Ser. No. 09/749,836, filed on Dec. 28, 2000.        Network Traffic Analyzer, U.S. Ser. No. 09/695,402, filed on Oct. 25, 2000, (inventors: Howard W. Fingerhut, Jeffrey D. Kashinsky, and Brian D. Kling).        
Advantageously, the WSM system does not assign a unique number address (UNA) or MAN to a fixed-site wireless device. By avoiding such assignments, the WSM system avoids the pitfalls associated with the assignments and the associated record keeping activities. On the other hand, as a result of failing to assign a UNA or MAN to each fixed-site wireless device, the WSM system does not have information on the location of each of the fixed-site wireless devices in the system. In other words, the WSM system does not have an address for each of the devices. Without an address for a specific fixed-site wireless device, data or a communication cannot be routed directly to that specific device without other actions. The ability to pinpoint a specific device or a group including a small number of devices is lost without further measures being taken to locate the specific device or the group of devices.
As noted immediately above, the WSM system addresses the problem in the Mobitex (and similar networks) of the assignment of MANs and associated record keeping. Another solution to the assignment problem may be found within the Mobitex network. This other solution makes use of the inherent broadcast capabilities of the Mobitex network. The broadcast functionality of the Mobitex network can be used to send the same information from a number of base stations to multiple devices. The broadcast functionality of the Mobitex network generally matches the needs of the service providers providing the telemetry applications involving the fixed-site wireless devices. In these telemetry applications, generally, the same data is typically downloaded to the fixed-site wireless devices, and such download is relatively infrequent and generally does not have to be a real-time download or a critical download.
In the solution offered by the broadcast functionality of the Mobitex network, the fixed-site wireless device is not assigned a MAN or other unique network address (UNA). Without a MAN (or other UNA) assigned to a wireless device, the network is unaware of the location of the device. In effect, the network does not know the “address” of the wireless device at least for communications purposes.
The proposed broadcast solution has advantages. By the proposed solution, the data is delivered to the fixed-site wireless units. Also by the proposed solution, the record-keeping and other activities related to the assignment of MANs (or other unique network addresses) to fixed-site wireless devices are avoided. By avoiding the assignment of MANs, network infrastructure and other resources are conserved. In addition, over-utilization of the network and radio channel, congestion, and slow response of the system may be avoided.
But the proposed solution has disadvantages. One disadvantage is the limited geographical area of the broadcast. Another disadvantage is the administrative overhead and other problems that may be generated through the use of the broadcast feature. Both of these disadvantages are explained below. Yet another disadvantage, as mentioned above in connection with the WSM system, is the lack of an address or other identifier for a specific fixed-site wireless unit, which precludes direct and exclusive communication with that unit.
As noted, a disadvantage of the proposed solution of broadcasting the data to the fixed-site wireless devices is the limited geographical area that is reached by the broadcast. In the Mobitex network, for example, a broadcast can only be sent over a maximum of eight base stations. Data intended for fixed-site wireless devices distributed in a geographical area greater than served by the eight base stations can only be delivered through repeats (in groups of eight) of the broadcast over the appropriate base stations in the network.
Also as noted, another disadvantage is the administrative overhead and other problems that may be generated through the use of the broadcast feature. Even though some network infrastructure and other resources may be conserved by failing to assign unique MANs to fixed-site wireless devices, other network infrastructure and other resources may be wasted. For example, in the Mobitex network, for a fixed-site wireless device to receive a broadcast, the device must be registered as a group subscription and must use a group MAN. Even though the assignment of unique MANs is avoided, the use of the Mobitex broadcast feature still requires assignment of at least group MANs and the associated record-keeping and other activities. A group subscription must be associated with a number of base stations (no more than eight), so the broadcast may be made from those predefined base stations.
Additionally, local switches (commonly referred to as MOXs) that have inferior connections to those predefined base stations must contain appropriate information such as information in their node databases. Any changes to the information, to the local switches, or the addition or deletion of local switches (and other elements) require synchronization of the appropriate data and elements between the local switches and the network such as synchronization with the network subscription database. The synchronization and related activities generate administrative overhead, and may lead to congestion and slow down in the network.
In sum, a wireless network is capable of delivering data to a fixed-site wireless device through use of a unique address or identifier of the device known as a UNA (or MAN in the Mobitex network). The assignment of UNAs and MANs to fixed-site wireless devices, however, is viewed as problematic and as burdensome to the wireless network.
The assignment problems have been addressed in proposed solutions. Yet, the proposed solutions have pitfalls. In proposed solutions that do not assign a UNA or a MAN to a fixed-site wireless device, the wireless network does not have address or other location information to route data and communications directly and exclusively to the device. In proposed solutions that use the broadcast functionality of a wide network, the limitations of the broadcast functionality provide other obstacles such as the limited geographical area served by the broadcast functionality and such as the assignment of group identifiers and other record keeping activities necessary to implement the broadcast functionality.
Accordingly, there is a need for methods and systems that address the disadvantages of the assignment of UNAs and MANs to fixed-site wireless devices in wireless networks by avoiding such assignment. There is a need for methods and systems that make use of the advantages presented by the broadcast functionality of wireless networks in delivering data and communications to fixed-site wireless devices without the need for assignment of UNAs and MANs. There is a need for methods and systems that make use of the advantages of the broadcast functionality of wireless networks to avoid the disadvantages and problems presented by that broadcast functionality.
Finally, the use of wireless devices and wireless technology is increasing. The methods and systems offered in response to the above-described problems must take into account this increase. The increase in wireless use may not allow for broadcast functionality of a wireless network to be implemented even in lulls in communications traffic. There may be problems posed by data or communications that are discarded or otherwise not delivered due to wireless traffic. Thus, there is a need for methods and systems that address the issues presented by increasing wireless use, and specifically the possibility of discarded or otherwise undelivered data.